{ "version": "1.0.0", "segments": [ { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "0.0", "endTime": "8.24", "body": "Here we go. Welcome. Welcome. One and all. Welcome to fire branded." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "8.48", "endTime": "37.97", "body": "I am your host, TJ Haynes, the Catholic firebrand himself and the undisputed technician of the truth. Today, I'm talking to you about throwing fireballs, baby, because this is the Catholic firebrand with balls of fire. And I thank you very much for joining me. Hello to those who catching me on the talk, the tube, the big blue bird, and on the big white f. That f stands for your Facebook because we're not sending your posts to anybody." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "37.97", "endTime": "65.43", "body": "That's what that f stands for. Bet you didn't know. Now you know somebody should have told you. Again, talking about throwing fireballs, some words of encouragement for Catholics who really kinda need it, especially inexperienced Catholics or young Catholics. Some words of encouragement for you, some things that you need to be aware of, my friends, and a couple of words for the crucifiers, the hecklers, the haters out there who secretly love the Catholic church, but they hate that they love the Catholic church." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "65.43", "endTime": "79.384995", "body": "Oh, it's true. This is going out live everywhere and is recorded November 28 in the year of our lord 2025. And I say thank you, Catholic church. Let's fade that music out. That's the wrong fader, dummy." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "79.465", "endTime": "84.905", "body": "That's the right fader. Thank you very much. Hey. Did you know? I recently went viral on the Gram." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "84.905", "endTime": "100.32", "body": "I can't believe it either. PS, those of you catching me on TikTok, you're only getting a few minutes of this live. If you wanna watch the whole show, Catholic Firebrand on YouTube. TikTok is not a friendly platform, and I'm talking about the company and the app. I'm not talking about the people." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "100.32", "endTime": "110.155", "body": "So I'm just not going to give it any more of my time. So I recently went, viral on The Talk. Let's see if I can get this on the screen for you. Let's see if I can play this for you. That's the one I want." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "110.155", "endTime": "118.3", "body": "Let me tell you. God doesn't go cheap. Everything God does is amazing. Creation of everything. Right?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "118.3", "endTime": "125.42", "body": "The world, the universe, the, creation of of man. It's a big deal, huge deal. Creation of the angels. Big deal. God goes big." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "125.42", "endTime": "159.03", "body": "Something that God did that was real, real big is when he established the Catholic church on the earth. People don't realize or appreciate just how major and massive that is, that Jesus Christ left behind the holy Catholic church. People don't get that. And so I'm convinced that there are people outside the church and inside the church who attack the church, who attack the magisterium because their opinions mean so much. They don't know what they're playing with." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "159.735", "endTime": "192.99501", "body": "I think people are going on judgment day. One of the things that Jesus is gonna go over with some of these people, many of them Catholics, one of the things Jesus is gonna go over with them is, let's talk about things that you said against my church, against the magisterium of my church, against my vicar. I wouldn't even be surprised if Jesus said before we talk about anything else, let's talk about that. Gotta be careful before you take a lash to the back of the mystical body. Catholic church is big time." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "192.99501", "endTime": "199.63501", "body": "It's one of God's greatest achievements is establishing the church. Better watch your mouth." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "199.955", "endTime": "205.32", "body": "Just saying. Better watch your mouth, my friends. Tell you. God's saying. Better watch your mouth." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "205.64", "endTime": "215.24", "body": "Here's the thing. And that was completely off the cuff. I wasn't expecting to ruffle any feathers or stoke any embers. You see what I did there? Stoke any embers?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "215.72", "endTime": "226.06499", "body": "That's the name of my website on Substack. Stoking the Embers. You can find it at stokingembers.com. If you like what you're getting here, you're gonna love what you're gonna get there. So I wasn't expecting to stoke any Embers." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "226.06499", "endTime": "237.46", "body": "I was just this was just what I had in my heart at the time. It was had what I had in mind at the time. That's what I dropped. That right now is up to about 14,000 views or something like that. Alright." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "237.46", "endTime": "255.315", "body": "Cool. I'll take it. And I was expecting, you know, once that started to take off, I was expecting there was gonna be pushback, but I wasn't expecting it to be so stupid. Like, really, really stupid. It went so far that I had I had somebody say, I know you feel threatened by me." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "255.315", "endTime": "265.71002", "body": "And I said, threatened by you? But you're a moron. Why would I be why would I be threatened by you? Why would the church be threatened by you? Do you realize listen, man." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "265.71002", "endTime": "280.345", "body": "Hang on. We gotta go to the drama camp for this one. Do you realize the holy Catholic church is 2,000 years old? Do you realize we outlived every major empire? Do you realize Rome couldn't destroy us?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "281.385", "endTime": "295.56003", "body": "The Muslim empire couldn't destroy us. The barbarians couldn't destroy. Do you realize that we went up against far worse than you? Like, oh, so far worse. Like, ridiculously far worse than you, and you're kind of a half wit." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "295.64", "endTime": "307.235", "body": "Why would you be a threat? Why would the church need defending from you? Serious question. Why would the holy Catholic church need defending from you? I don't know, man." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "307.235", "endTime": "314.595", "body": "I just wasn't expecting the pushback to be as I'm sorry. Stupid as it was. I don't care. I don't care what the algorithm thinks. It was stupid." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "315.78", "endTime": "346.75998", "body": "But there you had it. So some of the pushback I got, and this relates to why I'm doing this episode, some of the pushback I got included things like references to the priest sex scandal, references to or flat out saying the Catholic church is a cult. I got pushback from Protestants. Remember I remember I said this was stupid? I got pushback from Protestants saying you don't have to follow a church." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "346.75998", "endTime": "358.28", "body": "You don't have to follow religion at all. Follow Jesus Christ. But do you realize Jesus Christ was religious? Do you realize that you shouldn't follow a Catholic church? You should just worship Jesus like I do." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "358.28", "endTime": "370.575", "body": "Really? What is worship? Well, my worship is I follow the bible. Do you under my friend, folks, hear what I'm telling you. Do you understand what worship is in the bible?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "371.055", "endTime": "378.93", "body": "It's in the old testament. We see it played out in the new testament. It's very biblical. It goes like this. It requires an altar." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "379.65", "endTime": "395.955", "body": "It requires a priest, that priest offering a sacrifice to God. A priest, a consecrated altar, a sacrifice. That's biblical. Jesus obeyed that too. Okay?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "396.835", "endTime": "417.865", "body": "So what are you talking about? I don't follow a religion, or I'm not Catholic because I worship Jesus, do you? Because you don't you don't worship the way the Bible says to worship. Now listen. This is nothing personal against my Protestant brothers and sisters, the normal Protestants, the normal Protestant brothers and sisters." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "417.865", "endTime": "429.38498", "body": "This is nothing against you. This is an area where we differ, and that's just the truth. We differ here. And I'm sorry, I'm the Catholic in this in this game. Right?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "429.38498", "endTime": "446.58502", "body": "So, of course, I'm going to say, and I believe, we have this right, and you do not. Okay. That doesn't mean you're evil. That doesn't mean you don't love Jesus and all that stuff. But listen, I'm good with building bridges with you, but I can't deny where we have differences." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "446.905", "endTime": "467.04", "body": "Not to make them weapons, I would rather get along. But I think we have to get along while acknowledging and being patient with, not indifferent to, our differences. Okay? So it's nothing against Protestants. But if you are coming, stepping to me, talking about, I worship Jesus." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "467.04", "endTime": "483.625", "body": "I don't need the Catholic church. And how do you worship Jesus? Well, because yada yada yada yada, and the bible bible bible bible. But worshiping God worshiping God biblically is liturgical. It requires a priest." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "483.705", "endTime": "509.585", "body": "It requires an altar. It requires a sacrifice. That's just the truth. So this was the kind of pushback I was getting, and I'm going to respond to some of that pushback today because I want you folks who are not very experienced in this, I want you folks to know there are responses to some of these ridiculous statements in the comments. There are responses." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "510.22498", "endTime": "523.41003", "body": "These ridiculous statements are just that. They're ridiculous, and they should not rattle your cage in the least. And I want you also to know this. The haters are hating on that video. I don't take it personally." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "523.41003", "endTime": "536.47504", "body": "I don't care. I've been an evangelizer for thirty years in person, on the ground, to people, person to person, and person to groups of persons. Okay? I've seen it all. So I don't take this personally." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "538.155", "endTime": "569.455", "body": "All I'm saying is these sorts this sort of pushback that I'm getting is because these folks and folks similar to them deep down respect, admire, and in a way fear the preeminence and power of the holy Catholic church. And that is just true. Do you know why I know it's true? First, because I've been doing it for thirty years, so I know what's out there, and I know the psychology and mentality of what is out there. Second, it's just logical." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "570.09503", "endTime": "597.72504", "body": "If you are a pagan, I mean an actual pagan, and I have evangelized pagans. If you are an actual pagan, saying something on social media, could be on TikTok, Instagram, doesn't matter. Saying something on social media, something positive about what you believe, I don't recognize the power or preeminence or authority of what you believe, so I'm not going to be stirred to make a to leave a comment. Why would I be? Why would I be stirred to make a comment?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "598.285", "endTime": "628.915", "body": "If you are an atheist oh, boy, have I evangelized atheists and debated atheists and some of them ridiculous and some of them not. But, let me just fix this focus here. If you're an atheist saying something positive about what you believe, I'm not going to make a comment because I don't recognize the power or certainly not the preeminence of what you believe. So I wouldn't be stir I I I would not even give a second thought to responding. But these folks not only are responding, they're taking a lot of time to respond." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "629.15497", "endTime": "652.045", "body": "Have you noticed? If you've seen the comments I'm I'm by the way, this is in reference to Instagram. This only went viral on Instagram. Have you noticed in the comments how long some of these comments were? Do you think do you think for a second I'm taking the time to write four paragraphs of a response to anybody unless I first recognize the power and preeminence of what they believe." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "652.84503", "endTime": "668.03", "body": "Only when I feel threatened might I take time on a smartphone to write a four paragraph response. And there were a couple of multi paragraph responses. And you could tell they were done on smartphones too. You can see the auto correct errors and stuff. Do you think I would do that?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "668.03", "endTime": "680.535", "body": "Of course not. Because I don't recognize the power or preeminence of what you believe. That doesn't mean I think your garbage is a person. It's not about the person, it's about the belief. Okay?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "681.975", "endTime": "701.55", "body": "I forget where I was going with that, but it's it's irrelevant. So this only went on viral on Instagram, so if you're looking for it, it's on all of my socials, but if you're looking for these comments that I'm referencing, they're on Instagram. You'll find me everywhere on socials at real TJaynes. So let me see if I can get into this. There are a lot of comments." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "702.99", "endTime": "711.385", "body": "Oh my god. I can't believe that worked. Holy crap. There are a lot of comments. Show us the direction and infrastructure of a New Testament priesthood." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "711.54504", "endTime": "726.9", "body": "Let me do this for those who can't see it on Instagram. You should be able to see that now, I think. Okay. So now show us the directions and instructions for the New Testament priesthood. So this is someone who said that they worship Jesus or they don't they don't need religion to worship whatever." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "727.3", "endTime": "743.615", "body": "And I told them what I just told you. TikTokers, catch me on YouTube because I'm about to end this stream. YouTube at Catholic Firebrand. I told them about the worship requires a priest, an altar, and a sacrifice. Okay." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "743.695", "endTime": "753.91", "body": "Where well, where is that in the Bible? That's ultimately what they're saying. Where is that in the Bible? You start in the Old Testament. Every time you see the word worship, what do you see there in that narrative?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "753.91", "endTime": "781.71", "body": "He set up an altar and worshiped God. He set up an altar and looked for a sacrifice to worship God, or he worshiped God by sacrificing a dot dot dot dot. Sometimes it doesn't sometimes it doesn't explicitly say priest, altar, sacrifice. It usually says one or two, and it might omit the third because the reader of the scripture already understands that to be there. And so he found a sacrifice and worshiped God." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "781.87", "endTime": "809.64", "body": "The intended reader of that scripture knows that that means he set up a consecrated alt he set up an altar, consecrated it to God, and upon that altar he offered this sacrifice to God. And that was worship. That was just understood. So you see that throughout the scripture, throughout the Old Testament, in various snippets and narratives. You also see it, not as explicitly because the New Testament has a different purpose, but you do see it being practiced in the New Testament." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "809.64", "endTime": "825.86", "body": "You do see that. Okay? Jesus Christ, of course, is the new high priest. So when we offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist on the altar, we're not re we're we're not reoffering Jesus Christ. We're uniting that offering." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "825.86", "endTime": "844.035", "body": "We're representing the sacrifice on the altar. And really, the priest is doing it in the person of Christ. Christ is the high priest. You understand? So folks, if you ever get a comment that says the Catholic church worships idols, it doesn't you know why they say that?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "844.035", "endTime": "860.37", "body": "Do you know why they say the Catholic church worships idols, statues, and worships Mary? I'm gonna tell you why they say that, and and then I never want you to give another another thought again. Here's why they say that. They say that we worship idols because worship for them is prayer. Why is worship for them prayer?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "860.37", "endTime": "873.465", "body": "Because that's all they have. They have no priesthood. They have no altar. They have nothing to offer as a sacrifice to God, which is biblically worship. That and that, what I just said, is what worship is." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "874.905", "endTime": "902.15497", "body": "Prayer finds its power united to that worship. You can almost think of proper worship as as capital w, and prayer and devotions and things like that. You can think of that as if you call it worship, it's lowercase w worship. But biblically, prayer is not worship. What we do in the church, when we worship God in the Catholic church, that happens at mass and only at mass." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "903.755", "endTime": "918.33", "body": "Our prayer, the power of our prayer is united to the mass. That's where it finds its power and so on. But if I sit here and say a thousand hour fathers, that is not sufficient worship. Well, does God care whether, you know, how you worship? Yes." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "918.33", "endTime": "932.605", "body": "God cares. Cain and Abel both offered sacrifices to God. God accepted one and rejected the other because it was an unworthy sacrifice. It was insufficient sacrifice. So we know God has a standard." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "933.725", "endTime": "961.575", "body": "That's why people think we worship Mary. First, because they misunderstand what we're doing in Marian devotion, or they do understand it and they're just denying it because they want some reason to crucify the church, and they have to hold on to whatever nonsense they can hold on to. So they either that or they just don't understand it. May our devotion to the blessed mother, praying through the intercession of the saints. They think we're literally worshiping them because to them that is worship." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "961.575", "endTime": "977.41003", "body": "Why? Why is that worship to them? Because that's all that they have. So who really is in error? Who's in error if to them prayer is worship when actually it really isn't?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "977.97", "endTime": "990.935", "body": "Who's in error here? When we worship God, we worship him at the mass. That's how that's how that goes. If we pray through the intercession of the saints, that is not worship. To them it is because it's all that they have." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "991.095", "endTime": "1007.31", "body": "The problem then is theirs, not ours. They are wrong. They are in error. They need correction, not us. So let not your hearts be troubled and never be intimidated by that nonsense again because nonsense is all that it is." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1007.31", "endTime": "1018.135", "body": "For those of you who don't know, you might have considered signing up for my newsletter, catholicfirebrand.com. There's no spam. There's no jokes. There's no nonsense. All that is is a brief rundown." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1018.295", "endTime": "1026.375", "body": "Usually, they're brief. The last one was really, really big. Somebody unsubscribed after looking at that sucker. Sorry. The last one was big because I don't send them every week." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1026.375", "endTime": "1048.785", "body": "Sometimes I I send them every two or three weeks, you know, so I don't hit up your inbox often. But it's a rundown of everything I've published on Stoking the Embers, The Quiet Ember, Coaching Catechetics, which I'm gonna do for another one this week. Coaching Catechetics, it's a rundown of, my podcast. It's just brief little descriptions and why you might be interested in reading it or listening to it if it's a podcast. That's it." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1048.785", "endTime": "1069.17", "body": "So you don't have to follow me across everything that I do. You get that one newsletter, and you're good to go. You can check out everything that I've put up there. You can check out just the one thing that interests you or check out nothing at all. But when you sign up for that newsletter, you will also get hand delivered, a permanent invite link to not hand delivered." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1069.17", "endTime": "1081.9349", "body": "It's in your inbox, but you get the idea. I have a permanent invite link to my Discord server. I've got a nice little community growing there, and in the active community too community too. People, they they talk. They exchange ideas." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1082.095", "endTime": "1111.105", "body": "I have a question box there, whether it's theology questions or, you need personal advice, I have prayer requests there. I do a weekly chat session. You don't have to show up live for the chat sessions. You can drop in and contribute to the thread or read what other people have posted. I'm going to be doing starting this week, let's see, I'm going to be doing, like a bible study sort of thing that I call the scripture sessions." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1111.105", "endTime": "1144.77", "body": "It's a short little podcast that I put up there, ten minutes maybe, and some prompts, some things to get you thinking about what we just read in that scripture. Right? And, and then we, either live or at your leisure, whenever you can, whenever you want, whenever you feel like, go in and share your own thoughts or ask questions or say what you think, whatever. So, that bible study, the scripture sessions is coming up probably this week, and people just like to kind of share thoughts and ideas in the Discord in general. The Discord is private." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1144.77", "endTime": "1162.345", "body": "There's no, social media madness. You really should check it out. So you can either and this is a secret. I don't usually plug this, because usually the people on Discord, I want them to be receiving my newsletter so that they're in the know of things. Because sometimes there's updates and stuff just for the Discord people that I send out in that newsletter." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1162.345", "endTime": "1187.945", "body": "But anyway, if you wanna bypass the newsletter, go to stokingembers.com. In the nav menu, there is a link to my Discord server. But I think if you really wanna get on board the truth train, go to catholicfirebrand.com, sign up for that newsletter. You will get delivered to your inbox a permanent invite link to my Discord server. The Discord server is called the Firebrand Forum." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1189.065", "endTime": "1199.4901", "body": "Alright. Let's continue with some more of these comments. This is so funny. Remember I was telling you about four paragraph responses? Where did go?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1199.4901", "endTime": "1227.95", "body": "Look at look at look this. Look at this. Do you think if I recognize the power and preeminence of this person's nonsense, do you think I'm taking the time to write a response like that? Are you are you out of your mind? And my response to, this encyclical that he wrote was the holy Catholic church has outlived every empire the world has ever known." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1227.95", "endTime": "1245.815", "body": "Actually, was not my response. That was another comment I made. But I want people to know about it. The holy Catholic church has outlived every empire the world has ever known, and it will outlive the ideologies of her modern secular enemies too. And don't you doubt that for a moment because that's the truth, brother brother." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1246.6951", "endTime": "1264.74", "body": "Let's get to another heckler if I can find one. There were they were all over the place. Got some comments from Catholic converts. One of them was a convert from from Hinduism, which I have thirty years an evangelizer, I have never known a convert from that I'm aware of. Never known a convert from Hinduism." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1264.74", "endTime": "1276.845", "body": "That's, like, huge. Let's get to this one. Which Catholic church? Before 1200, before the council of Trent, or after 1950. They are the same Catholic church." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1277.0851", "endTime": "1299.08", "body": "There are no three different churches. Even if they are and there are many different or many periods of church history because the church is 2,000 years old, but these were only adding adding to the church's history, not changing the church's history. They're not different churches. I don't even know what he's talking about. 1950." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1299.1599", "endTime": "1309.075", "body": "And then this one. Now, by by the way, you're gonna see usernames and stuff here. I don't want you to go and, like, harass these people. Okay? That's not I'm not trying to start fights and stuff." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1309.0751", "endTime": "1325.2401", "body": "Okay? If you do decide you wanna make a response to somebody because the holy spirit has moved you to do so, I have to insist that you conduct yourself like ladies and gentlemen. Brothers and sisters in Christ, remember, for our struggle is not, oh, yes. Yes. Yes." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1325.2401", "endTime": "1334.255", "body": "This was another back and forth and and a long one. But that was one of the people who was saying that Jesus Christ didn't establish a religion. I'm sorry. Yes. He did." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1334.495", "endTime": "1357.56", "body": "And Jesus himself was very religious. So for those of you out there who might be wondering, can't I just pray to God on my own? Why do I need organized religion? Especially you younger Catholic folk out there, The idea that you don't need religion to worship God, well, do you think you know this stuff better than God does? Because God invented religion." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1357.56", "endTime": "1368.1049", "body": "He didn't invent it. It's just a matter of reality. Religion is something that God built into reality. A capacity for religion is something he built into the human person. It's really not an invention." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1368.2649", "endTime": "1382.47", "body": "It's just part of creation. Religion is literally part of reality. Just as the sun and moon and stars and water and fish are. It's a part of reality. Do you think you know religion better than the guy who made reality?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1383.11", "endTime": "1393.3749", "body": "I'm being very serious. Ask yourself that. Do I know religion better than the guy who made reality? Mm-mm. I don't think you do." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1393.775", "endTime": "1416.895", "body": "So this idea that I don't need organized religion to worship God or to be close to God or to go to heaven, You sure about that? Because I'm gonna tell you flat out, unambiguously, that is incorrect. That is incorrect. If religion is not important, God would not have established it in the human order. Jesus Christ wouldn't have followed." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1416.895", "endTime": "1426.015", "body": "Jesus Christ is the truth. Right? He's not going to follow it if it's nonsense. Okay? He wouldn't have left behind a church if if religion is nonsense." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1426.175", "endTime": "1451.445", "body": "He wouldn't have left behind a church, a religion, or a faith if being nice is enough to get to heaven. Come on, guys. Put your logic brains to work now. So if you are amongst those Catholics who think, don't need I don't need religion to be good, well, maybe you don't need religion to be nice, but the reason why you know what nice is is because of religion. Okay." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1451.445", "endTime": "1464.94", "body": "Maybe you don't need religion to be nice, but do you need religion to be good? What is good? Do you know what good is? Most people use nice and good interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Is fire good?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1465.42", "endTime": "1479.995", "body": "Well, not if it burns down your house. Is fire good if it warms your house and heats your water and cooks your food? Yes. Okay. So fire is not an intrinsic good because bad things can come of it." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1479.995", "endTime": "1493.99", "body": "So when we talk about good, we're talking about something that is all good, totally good, completely good all the time. All the time. So I ask you again, are you good? I don't need God to be good. I don't need religion to be good." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1493.99", "endTime": "1506.3849", "body": "Do you know what good is? Think. Think about that. Do you know what good is? Think about what some things that you think are objectively, intrinsically good, and ask yourself, am I that?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1507.985", "endTime": "1515.87", "body": "Now, do I need religion? And do I need God? And do I need the church? Do I need mass and the sacraments to get to heaven? We do." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1516.03", "endTime": "1544.0399", "body": "We do need those things. Because without the grace that's tied to those things, we can't get this vehicle up that hill to heaven. We cannot get to heaven of our own power. We need power from outside of ourselves. The power of God manifested in his grace, manifested in the sacraments and the holy sacrifice of the mass, that is the force and energy we need to reach heaven." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1544.36", "endTime": "1560.6249", "body": "Detached from it, we're climbing Mount Everest. Let's say there's a paved road going all the way up Mount Everest. We're climbing Mount Everest in an old beat up Chevy with no gas in it. It's running on fumes. How far up Mount Everest are you gonna get running on fumes?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1561.265", "endTime": "1571.45", "body": "In a 10 ton Chevy. Not very far. So do we need religion to get to heaven? Do we need God to get to heaven? Do we need do we need the sacraments to get to to heaven?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1572.41", "endTime": "1580.6749", "body": "Do we need any of these things to be good? The answer to all those questions is yes. Absolutely yes. Do you need religion to be nice? Well, technically, yes." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1580.6749", "endTime": "1598.5199", "body": "Well, I'm not religious, and I'm nice. Well, but you got your niceness from religion. Your niceness is rooted in in an ethic that is rooted in scripture and Judeo Christian morality. It's in the culture because the church built Western civilization. It's in the culture because of the Bible." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1599.08", "endTime": "1611.255", "body": "And you have the Jews and the Catholic church to thank for that. Your niceness is based on that. And then there's a niceness that you can just kind of figure out on your own. Right? Someone is crying." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1611.255", "endTime": "1628.6", "body": "Usually your heart goes out to somebody who's crying. Right? And you wanna console them. Well, you don't need the Bible to figure that one out because God has written the truth in our hearts. So there are some things, some morals, some objectively good ethics that we can arrive at on our own." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1629.525", "endTime": "1657.4099", "body": "And then there are some that need information from outside of ourselves. The exact the most extreme example I always go to, murder. Before the 10 commandments and even for for every other culture but Judaism and Christianity, without the 10 commandments of scripture, murder for many, most, not all, but most cultures, murder was just considered rude. Like, rude, but just rude. Nobody considered it wrong." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1658.105", "endTime": "1677.2899", "body": "You never do that, especially the pagans, because the pagans saw murder in nature all the time. Animals eating animals. Animals starting fights with other animals to get their hunting territory. A lot of the pagans, especially the spiritualist pagans, based their morality on what they saw in nature. And they saw murder in nature all the time." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1678.25", "endTime": "1692.4849", "body": "Are you kidding? Do you know how savage, for instance, the American Indians were? And yes, I will call them American Indians. Do you know how savage they were? And this is not I'm not saying that native Americans are savages." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1693.0449", "endTime": "1705.1", "body": "Not saying they are savages. But back in the day, they kind of were. And you can say all ancient peoples were, and that would be fine. That would be accurate. Okay?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1705.1001", "endTime": "1719.085", "body": "What I'm trying to say is they were very, very brutal. All of the pagan nations were very, very brutal. Why? Because they largely were reflecting what they saw in nature. Tearing somebody's scalp off of his head?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1719.245", "endTime": "1732.89", "body": "Why not? I've seen jackals do worse. You understand? So you might say, don't need religion to be nice. Well, in a little in a small way that's that's a little bit true, but in the grand scheme of things, it is not true." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1733.05", "endTime": "1753.1051", "body": "A lot of our niceness in the modern Western culture is because of religion. It's not because we figured it out. You want proof of that? Look at how many things the secular world considers nice that are actually objectively wrong. Pick anything that the culture or culture says is a is a fundamental human right." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1753.1051", "endTime": "1772.5701", "body": "Nine out of those nine out of 10 of those things is going to be objectively wrong. But the culture has been convinced that these wrong things abortion is one example. That'll probably get me deplatformed somewhere, but what the hell? Abortion is one example. You do it it doesn't even fit the definition of a fundamental human right." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1773.265", "endTime": "1793.5599", "body": "By any stretch of the imagination, it doesn't even fit the definition. You mean the Catholic church's definition? The definition that has held true from the time of the Greeks long through church history. So long before the church and two thousand years into church history, that has never been true. Okay?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1793.96", "endTime": "1813.3151", "body": "So there are things that the law secular law says are good, even human rights, which are actually objectively wrong. So and now I'll get off my soapbox on that. Next one I wanna cover. This is probably gonna be the last one because this is getting a little long. Luke makes it abundantly clear Mary was not sinless." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1813.3151", "endTime": "1829.585", "body": "Now I want you to listen to this. Okay? Mary's fear at Gabriel's appearance supports the view that she possessed a fallen human nature. Now this is not a bad comment, but what scares me and bothers me about this is that it sounds so legitimate. It sounds so true." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1829.585", "endTime": "1859.4551", "body": "In fact, I'm so unthreatened by it. I'm gonna keep reading it for you and respond to it right right now live. Mary's fear at Gabriel's appearance supports the view that she possessed a fallen human nature because fear before holiness in you blah blah blah, Luke, highlights her troubled response. Gabriel's fear not address Gabriel's fear not addresses people who share Adam's fallen condition. So I'm gonna tell you point number one, fear before holiness." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1859.4551", "endTime": "1876.98", "body": "Well, fear is some fear is not the result of fallen nature. God built we have it because God built it into us. Okay? Fear is a good thing. Inordinate fear is called cowardice that is not a good thing." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1877.78", "endTime": "1887.345", "body": "What's this person talking about? The scripture says that Mary was troubled by what? What was Mary troubled by? Do you remember? The angel's greeting." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1888.305", "endTime": "1921.745", "body": "Well, what did the angel say? Hail, highly favored one, or hail, full of grace. Mary is very humble for an angel to tell a human, salve, hail. That's already stunning. But then to say full of grace or highly highly favored one, And Mary being so humble, this is why she was so I wouldn't even say troubled, but for lack of a better word, troubled by the angel's greeting." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1921.745", "endTime": "1927.57", "body": "I'm not highly favored. You shouldn't say hail to me. You're an angel. I'm a nobody. Okay?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1927.65", "endTime": "1959.95", "body": "I have heard some say one of the reasons why Mary was fearful I I should have really referenced, what the Latin Vulgate has there, but I don't have time right now. What was she so troubled about with regard to the angel's greeting? Probably because of her humility, which she demonstrates in that same scripture. She's troubled. She doesn't like she doesn't like that an angel is telling her hail and referring to her as highly favored one." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1959.95", "endTime": "1966.35", "body": "Who am I? I'm only the simple handmaid of the Lord. Why would you say that to me? You shouldn't say that to me. I'm a nobody." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1966.35", "endTime": "1984.5499", "body": "Point number two, Luke highlights her troubled response to show human frailty. That's not human frailty. That's so so point number two is due to a misunderstanding or a misreading of what they point out in point number one. Fear before holiness is universal to fallen humanity. I I will say this." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "1984.5499", "endTime": "2010.015", "body": "Fear before holiness is is universal to fallen humanity. What I think they're saying, but I think this is too high minded for somebody like that to be offering. I hate to sound like a snob, but it's just true. What I think they're saying is when you have perfect faith in God, you have no fear. You have I mean, you might be nervous, let's say, but you have no fear because you have perfect faith in God." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2010.015", "endTime": "2023.49", "body": "Well, don't we see that demonstrated in Mary? We see that demonstrated in the holy virgin. Right? You will conceive and bear a son. You will name him Jesus and yada yada yada yada." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2024.37", "endTime": "2032.5349", "body": "And what does Mary say? Okay. And then the angel left her. I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to thy word." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2032.5349", "endTime": "2037.9749", "body": "Okay. I'll do that. No pushback. No nothing. Perfect faith." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2038.375", "endTime": "2067.1553", "body": "Then there's perfect faith without fear. Then Mary asks, well, how on earth am I going to conceive the Messiah since I'm a consecrated virgin? She does not use the word consecrated virgin, but it is understood from the context from how she's saying it and from other things that she was probably a consecrated virgin. How am I how is this to come about since I do not know man? She's not saying I don't know man yet." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2067.235", "endTime": "2079.73", "body": "She's saying I do not know man. I don't do that. I'm a consecrated virgin. So how am I going to conceive and bear a son? Mary is not asking out of disbelief." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2080.21", "endTime": "2104.54", "body": "She is seeking understanding. But when you look at, who was that? Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist? I think his name was Zechariah. Zechariah does push back when the angel same angel tells him that his wife, who's very old, is going to conceive and bear a child herself, Zechariah's pushback is a lack of faith." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2104.78", "endTime": "2130.48", "body": "He finds it ridiculous what he's being told. And the angel is very stern with him in response to that and strikes him mute until he comes around in his faith. Same angel now tells Mary she's going to conceive and bear a son, and Mary simply seeks understanding. You see that in her language compared to the language of Zechariah. But also you see the earned angel is not stern with her in response." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2131.2", "endTime": "2148.8552", "body": "The angel explains. So that is not fear and that is not doubt that we see in Luke's gospel. That is pure and perfect faith. The other thing that's flawed about this comment is what does this have to do with Mary's sinlessness? Nothing." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2151.415", "endTime": "2166.48", "body": "Because the person starts out trying to say Mary was not sinless, and then does these points one and two. I I don't understand. Gabriel's fear not addresses people who share Adam's fall. Again, fear is not the result of our fall. We're built with that." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2167.625", "endTime": "2175.2249", "body": "Inordinate fear, cowardice is, but fear itself is not. Fear is tied to a fulnation. No. It's not. Mary receives grace." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2175.2249", "endTime": "2188.34", "body": "She is not the source or reservoir of it. Well, that part is true. Mary is not the source or reservoir of grace. The church never has never taught that she is. So I don't know what you expect me to say to that, my friend." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2188.34", "endTime": "2207.445", "body": "You're right. You're right. I can't say that we're wrong because the church never taught that. He goes on to say later that therefore, these things that I just mentioned, therefore, there's no Immaculate Conception. Well, these things don't have anything to do with the Immaculate Conception." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2207.445", "endTime": "2222.14", "body": "This is not where the Immaculate Conception theology or or dogma is rooted. What are you talking about? So it's another example of someone who doesn't understand Catholic theology, but has so much to say about it. Crazy. Let me just do it once over." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2222.5398", "endTime": "2236.605", "body": "See if there's anybody saying anything that I ought to respond to. Traveler music, maestro. V says, what is religion? Do you know what religion is? It is a school in which every soul it's a long comment." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2236.605", "endTime": "2253.11", "body": "Not gonna read it, but it's a good comment, but he's quoting Padre Pio. This is why you guys should check me out here at Homebase on Substack. All the Substackers are very deep. They have a lot of thoughts, deep thoughts, layered thoughts. Catholicism is a thinking is a thinking man's religion." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2253.35", "endTime": "2270.49", "body": "So this is why you gotta join me here on Substack, stokingembers.com on Substack. Catholic piety on purpose says you can be good, but you can't be righteous. Ah. You can't be righteous without Christ and his church. See, I I agree." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2270.49", "endTime": "2290.925", "body": "I agree. But that's where and maybe I'm not using very precise language, but that's what you what you're saying is righteous, I call objectively good, capital g good. Good as God defines it. Good that's that accords this is a good way to put it. Good that accords with the nature of God." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2292.685", "endTime": "2336.71", "body": "Years ago years ago, I was asking myself this question. What is good, and how can we know? One of the characteristics that I can in this definition I'm not gonna get into it here. But in this definition, I always logically test these things. One of the things that I logically tested and felt comfortable with was or some of the things that I that I logically tested and felt comfortable with, and also tested them scripturally and whatnot, is the good is dynamic, it's positive, it's creative or procreative, supports and sustains life, and it reflects a characteristic of God." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2337.51", "endTime": "2361.03", "body": "It has to do those four things. It has to follow those four characteristics, or it's no longer the good. Oh, and it can't come it can't come into conflict with another objective good. So when I say good, I mean what Jesus means when he says righteous. It accords with the character, the nature, the characteristic of God." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2361.03", "endTime": "2363.83", "body": "It accords with the divine character." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2365.27", "endTime": "2366.1501", "body": "If it does not," }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2367.155", "endTime": "2391.2502", "body": "it's no longer capital g good. It's no longer righteous. So sharing a little bit of my own philosophy with you for whatever that's worth. Before I go, I wanna remind you, I know especially the the because the most of the people this is assuming anyone actually is left on Substack. On Substack, you're already subscribed to Stoking the Embers at stokingembers.com." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2391.4102", "endTime": "2426.5051", "body": "So why would I subscribe to catholicfirebrand.com? Here's where they're different. On Stoking the Embers, when I publish something, the whole something gets sent to your inbox, whether you feel like reading it or not. But when I send out an email from my personal newsletter at Catholic Firebrand, that gets sent out less frequently because what that is is a summary, a listing of everything I've published. It's not the content." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2426.825", "endTime": "2453.065", "body": "It's just a summary. Right? A little blurb on the various things, articles or podcasts, usually both, that I've published since the last newsletter. When you subscribe to Stoking the Embers, every time I click post on an article, a blog, a podcast, a video, when I click post, the content gets sent to your inbox. Catholicfirebrand.com, you're not getting the content." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2453.305", "endTime": "2478.735", "body": "You're getting a less a listing of everything I've published, and you get an invite link to my Discord server. You might dig that. Catholicfirebrand.com. I don't have any closing words of wisdom other than to say if you are thinking about restoring and renewing your Catholic identity, the time to do it is now. First, you may not have tomorrow." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2480.175", "endTime": "2502.91", "body": "Also, we're living in a time where God is calling his children home, and he is activating them in ways that we, I believe, we have not seen in two thousand years. Calling his children home. And you have to come back and be a part of your family. You have to come back and be a part of your family. Well, maybe I'll do it tomorrow." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2502.91", "endTime": "2513.0852", "body": "What if you don't have tomorrow? Maybe I'll do it next week. Let's say you have next week. Let's just say that you're definitely going to and statistically, you probably will be here next week. Right?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2513.565", "endTime": "2527.91", "body": "Why next week and not now? What happens next week? Are you gonna put it off another month? Why are you putting it off at all? If you're a baptized Catholic, the time to commence your reboot and hit the ground running is right now." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2529.0298", "endTime": "2546.8052", "body": "Tomorrow is Saturday. Your local parish is likely going to have confessions. Go to confession, make a good confession, and start over again. Go to mass, receive the sacraments, build a prayer life. The time is now, not next week." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2547.7651", "endTime": "2568.2952", "body": "Because when God is calling his children, that call started from before space and time began. So even if you started this very second, you're late to the game. The time to get on this is now. Don't be ashamed of your Catholic affiliation. Don't be ashamed of being a member of the Catholic church or the Catholic faith." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2568.615", "endTime": "2577.335", "body": "Well, I'm Catholic in name only. Well, you can change that. Don't be ashamed. Don't be intimidated or fooled. Folks, I I want you to hear this." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2578.68", "endTime": "2591.72", "body": "30 item and I'm not bragging when I say this. I say this a lot because I think there's there's credibility in this authority. Thirty years as an evangelizer. I have heard every stupid argument against the church. Every one." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2591.72", "endTime": "2612.54", "body": "You can't possibly throw one throw one at me that I have not heard. Sometimes when I've heard these for the first time, I had to research them, and oftentimes I didn't. The point is, one way or the other, I have heard all of these arguments against the church, against the faith. I've heard them all. You can't possibly throw one at me I haven't heard." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2612.7", "endTime": "2622.055", "body": "And I can tell you they're all ridiculous. Well, I heard this and this and that about why being Catholic is messed up. It's wrong. It's stupid. It's not necessary." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2622.055", "endTime": "2640.8901", "body": "You heard this and that? That's cool. You should join my Discord server, DM me in there, or put it in the question box, and I guarantee you, I guarantee you, I've got a response to whatever that question is or that challenge is. Heard it's stupid to be Catholic because I heard you shouldn't be Catholic. I heard Catholics are dumb." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2640.8901", "endTime": "2648.4949", "body": "I heard this awful thing about Catholic church. Groovy. Come on in. Drop it in the chat. And it's not just me." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2648.4949", "endTime": "2660.43", "body": "There's other very good Catholics in there. And we'll address it. Not in in, like, a debate kind of way, just in a response kind of way. DM me. Anything you've heard against the church?" }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2660.43", "endTime": "2686.715", "body": "I've heard it many times over thirty years. And I'm telling you, don't you worry your pretty little head about nothing. All of those arguments against the church, the faith, being Catholic, any argument you've ever heard, and even some that you might just be able to make up on your own, heard it before, they're all ridiculous, and they all have responses to them. Let's see. Let's go with this one." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2689.47", "endTime": "2702.03", "body": "Come back to the church. Come back to the faith. The time is now, but you have to believe in yourself, man. Believe in yourself. As I said to my brethren over there on Discord, believe in yourself because God believes in you." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2703.155", "endTime": "2716.95", "body": "And though I don't know you, I gotta tell you, man, I believe in you. And I'm excited over you because this is the era of saints. Likely, you are one of them. Super excited over you. That's true, man." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2716.95", "endTime": "2737.5452", "body": "Trust and believe that is true and sincere. This has been a surprise episode of fire branded. I have been your host, TJ Haynes, Catholic firebrand, and technician of the truth. Thank you for joining me. God bless you." }, { "speaker": "TJ Haines", "startTime": "2737.625", "endTime": "2741.225", "body": "God be with you all. Signing out of here. Bye bye." } ] }